The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “grain” (or: “corn”) is translated in Kui as “(unthreshed) rice.” Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) explains: “Padddy [unthreshed rice] is the main crop of the country and rice the staple diet of the people, besides which [grain] is unknown and there is no word for it, and it seemed to us that paddy and rice in the mind of the Kui people stood for all that corn meant to the Jews.” “Paddy” is also the translation in Pa’o Karen (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. ).
Other translations include: “wheat” (Teutila Cuicatec), “corn” (Lalana Chinantec), “things to eat” (Morelos Nahuatl), “grass corn” (wheat) (Chichimeca-Jonaz) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “millet” (Lambya) (source: project-specific notes in Paratext), “food” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)or ntimumma lujia / “seeds for food” (Lokạạ — “since Lokạạ does not have specific terms for maize and rice that can be described as grains”) (source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “thresh” in English is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:
Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 28:28:
Kupsabiny: “Although wheat is threshed it is not threshed forever. Carts are driven over wheat to break (them/it) and it is not done so that they break into pieces.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “For making bread, wheat flour must be crushed, one does not go threshing it. And large cartwheels may be rolled over it, no one uses horses to grind grain.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The grain which is being-made into bread can- easily -be-crushed, therefore he does -not -constantly thresh (it). He use cart with horses for threshing, but he makes sure that it will- not -be-crush.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And grain for baking bread is crushed easily, so the farmers do not continue to pound it for a long time. They sometimes cause their horses to pull a cart over it to thresh it, but doing that does not grind the grain.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Verse 28 deals with the threshing of grain. Like the threshing of herbs, it also requires precise action.
Does one crush bread grain? No, he does not thresh it for ever is literally “Bread is crushed, but not for ever does he keep threshing it.” The agent for the passive verb “is crushed” is the farmer since the pronoun “he” refers to him. The verb “thresh” is repeated here in Hebrew to emphasize an ongoing action. Most English translations feel the need to add the word grain, or they render the Hebrew word for bread as “grain” (Revised English Bible) or “wheat” (Good News Translation). New International Version has both words by rendering these two lines as “Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever.” Revised Standard Version and New International Version differ in their meaning here. For Revised Standard Version the grain must not be crushed (or damaged), so it should be threshed only for a limited period of time (also Good News Translation, Revised English Bible); for New International Version the grain has to be crushed (or ground), but not during a threshing process that is too lengthy (also New Revised Standard Version). Both options are valid. For languages that require an active construction here, these lines may be rendered “The farmer has to grind grain into bread, so he does not thresh it endlessly” or “The farmer grinds grain into bread, but he does not thresh it continually.” For ever links this verse with verse 24. The farmer does not plow the soil or thresh the grain continually.
When he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it: The farmer knows how to thresh the grain by driving his cart over it (see the previous verse) without damaging it, or grinding it into flour. The Hebrew word rendered horses can also mean “horsemen,” but this does not fit the context of threshing grain. New International Version and New Revised Standard Version have “horses” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible), while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “animals used for pulling” (similarly Bible en français courant). Revised English Bible emends the Hebrew expression rendered with his horses to read “and thresh it” (similarly Good News Translation), but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project cautiously rejects this. There is no evidence to suggest that horses were not used to pull the threshing cart, so we should retain it.
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• Grain [for bread] is crushed, but it is not threshed unendingly;
when the farmer drives his cart over it with his horses,
he does not grind it up.
• Grain has to be ground [for flour], so it is not threshed for ever;
when the farmer drives his cart and horses over it [to thresh it],
he does not pulverize it [or, he does not make it then into flour].
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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